GRADUATE SCHOOL OF EDUCATION
MONROE C GUTMAN LIBRARY

DEPARTMENT OF

HEALTH, EDUCATION, AND WELFARE

AUG 2 1 1956

LIBRARY

THE

PENNSYLVANIA

SCHOOL JOURNAL.

VOLUME XLV.

That which makes a good Constitution must keep it, viz.: men of wisdom and virtue;
qualities that, because they descend not with worldly inheritance, must be carefully
propagated by a virtuous education of youth.-WM. PENN.

N. C. SCHAEFFER, EDITOR.

LANCASTER, PA.:
WICKERSHAM PRINTING CO.

1896.

"WELL,” exclaimed a young lady just returned from school, "my education is at last finished! Indeed, it would be strange if, after five years' hard application, anything were left incomplete. Happily, that is all over now, and I have nothing to do but exercise my various accomplishments. Let me see! As to French, I am mistress of that. Italian I can read with ease. Music I have learned till I am perfectly sick of it. My drawings are universally admired. And then in my dancing and waltzing, our master himself owned that he could take me no further! As to common things-geography, history, philosophy, and all that-thank my stars I'm through them all! There's nothing more to be learned in that direction! Well, to be sure, how much I have fagged through!"

"AH!' exclaimed a silver-haired sage, "how narrow is the utmost extent of human science! I have spent my life in acquiring knowledge, but how little do I know! The more deeply I attempt to penetrate the secrets of nature, the more I am bewildered. Beyond a certain limit all is but conjecture or confusion. It is true that I can measure the sun and compute the distances of the planets; I can calculate their periodical movements, and even comprehend the laws by which they perform their sublime revolutions; but with regard to their construction and the beings that inhabit them, what do I know more than the clown? I remark that all bodies, unsupported, fall to the ground, and I am taught to account for this by the law of gravitation. But what have I gained here more than a term, a word? I observe the effect, I give a name to the cause; but can I explain or comprehend it? I have learned to distinguish the animal, vegetable and mineral kingdoms, but can I tell whence a single blade of grass derives its vitality? Could the most minute researches enable me to discover the exquisite pencil that paints and fringes the flower of the field? Have I ever detected the secret that gives their brilliant color to the ruby and the emerald, or the art that enamels the delicate shell? I perceive in myself the two distinct qualities of matter and mind, but I am baffled in every attempt to comprehend their mutual dependence and mysterious connection. When my hand moves in obedience to my will, have I the most distant conception of the manner in which the volition is either communicated or understood? Ever has man been struggling with his own impotence, and vainly endeavoring to overleap the bounds which limit his anxious inquiries. What have I gained but a humbling conviction of my weakness and ignorance? How little has man, at his best estate, of which to boast! What folly in him to glory in his contracted powers, or to value himself upon his imperfect acquisitions!"-Condensed from Jane Taylor.